No Light No Light
by SamBelle
Summary: The spray blew into Ron's face as he landed. He sucked in a deep breath as his lungs expanded again. He was lying on his back, staring up at Hermione. "You moron, you could've spliched yourself again!" she yelled at him, yanking her hand out of his and stalking off.


**A/N:Please review and thank you for reading. This chapter can fit in instead of chapter 5 of my other fic, The Bookworm and The King, but it doesn't have to.  
**

 **Ps:I do not own Harry Potter.**

The spray blew into Ron's face as he landed. He sucked in a deep breath as his lungs expanded again. He was lying on his back, staring up at Hermione. "You moron, you could've spliched yourself again!" she yelled at him, yanking her hand out of his and stalking off.

Ron got up and dusted the sand from his damp clothes. He quickly followed her along the beach, trying his best to avoid the cold waves. It was way too cloudy for a swim. The wind blew, making Hermione's hair even frizzier than usual. They walked toward an old lighthouse.

Hermione tried the door, but it was rusted shut, so she simply sank down on the steps. Ron took the steps two at a time and sat down next to her. She ignored him, staring at the ground with glazed-over eyes. "Are you okay?" Ron asked. She remained silent, not moving at all. He started to wonder if she even heard him over the crashing of the waves.

"The war is over, it has been for months, so why does it feel like I'm still fighting?" she said finally. Ron moved closer and tucked her wild curls behind her ears. He knew nothing he could say would make her feel better, no matter how hard he tried. In the end, her pain would still be there. He gave her cold hand a gentle squeeze.

"It's freezing out here. Can we go inside?" he asked. She nodded.

"You shouldn't have followed me" she said as he got up. "You could've really hurt yourself."

"I know, but I just had to make sure that you were alright" he responded. He used his weight to force the door open, stepping back to let her in first. As she walked past him, he carefully analised her movements. She was moving slower than usual, and he could tell that her body was still aching.

Just twenty minutes ago, Hermione had had a seizure. This, unfortunately, was not uncommon since the war ended. It was one of the side effects of Bellatrix's torture. She was visiting the Burrow for a week during the summer holidays, and everyone was there when it happened. When she came to again she got up and apparated away from everybody, but Ron grabbed her hand at the last possible second.

They walked up the spiralling steps to the top of the lighthouse. The wind was stronger up here, howling as it tore at the sides of the tower. Hermione's hair was blowing wilder than ever before as she stepped out of the lantern room and onto the gallery. "I came here once during the school holidays" she called out over the wind. "It gave me peace of mind, knowing that somewhere in the world there was a guiding light to help keep people on course."

She used her wrist to wipe away a tear and wrapped her arms around her sore tummy. "Of course that was years ago. Now it just feels like the lighthouse keeper resigned and left me in the dark" she sniffed. "There's no light guiding me, sometimes it feels like even the light at the end of the tunnel is fading and I can't do anything to make it stay."

Ron noticed her shivering. He could see the cold was making her pain worse, but he also knew that she was too stubborn to go inside. She turned her head in surprise when he handed her his jumper. "Put it on" he yelled. This wind really was annoying, and Hermione's thin jersey clearly wasn't doing much to keep it out.

"Thanks" she said, pulling the thick wool over her head. It made quite a difference, and she was already starting to feel better. She got a bit of a fright when Ron's pale arms snaked around her waist and his warm hands moved beneath his jumper to cover her stomach. She leaned into him, feeling the pain subside a bit.

"Better?" he asked. He felt her head move against his chest as she nodded. "I know I will probably be rubbish at it, but if you want, I can have a go at being your light" he smiled. She turned around, pressing her body tight against his.

"Ron, you're already my light- you have been for years. You've been my light and my heart, but this is different" she said.

"Different how?" Ron asked. Hermione smiled when he cocked his head to one side; he looked so bloody cute when he did that.

"I don't want to have that conversation tonight, but I'll explain later" she assured him. The sun was starting to set, casting long shadows across the beach. Ron's eyes shone bright blue in the dying light.

"Don't ever leave me, Mione" Ron said, hugging her. He wished that he could hold her like this forever, protecting her from the outside world.

"Ron, you don't know what I've become. I can barely recognise myself these days."

"And you think that changes how I feel about you?" Ron asked surprised. How could she honestly believe that her injuries could ever make him love her less?

"How can it not? I am barren, Ronald. Bellatrix took that from me, I can't let her do that to you too" Hermione cried. Her heart broke each time she remembered this, and she loved Ron too much to tie him to her, to make him share the same fate.

"That's what this is about? You not being able to have children? Hermione, that changes nothing. I love you more than I can ever say, nothing will ever change that" he said, his own eyes filling with tears. He needed her to understand that he would never leave her, not because of this. "When we are ready for kids, we can adopt. We both know that blood doesn't matter. Please Hermione, don't do this to yourself" he begged.

Her tears were flowing freely now; a few were swept away by the harsh wind. "I told you I didn't want to talk about it" she said searching his eyes, willing them to support what he had just said. Slowly she closed her eyes and leaned closer, her salty lips grazing his in a feather-light kiss. "But thank you" she whispered as she pulled away. When he opened his eyes, she was staring at the ground again.

He sighed, realising that this was going to take time. She needed to heal, to gain her confidence again, and that wasn't going to happen overnight. He just hoped that his love was enough to pull her through.


End file.
